


The Creature in the Tank in the Basement of the House and Its Visitor

by kerithwyn



Series: Kink_Bingo 2012 [2]
Category: Fringe
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Community: kink_bingo, M/F/Other, M/Other, Multi, OTP+1, Tentacles, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-23
Updated: 2012-10-23
Packaged: 2017-11-16 18:26:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerithwyn/pseuds/kerithwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter and Olivia’s unusual friend...has another friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Creature in the Tank in the Basement of the House and Its Visitor

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Creature From the Tank in the Back of the Lab](https://archiveofourown.org/works/160220) by [crazylittleelf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazylittleelf/pseuds/crazylittleelf), [elfin (crazylittleelf)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazylittleelf/pseuds/elfin). 



> Written for kink_bingo 2012: tentacles. 
> 
> Warnings: This fic contains graphic, consensual sexual content between humans and a nonhuman, and recreational drug use.
> 
> AU fic based on [The Creature](http://archiveofourown.org/series/11689) series by elfin. Definitely recommended reading before this one. :)

Peter went down the steps and entered the basement room of the house, his eyes automatically going to the aquarium against the far wall. The creature saw him at the same time he saw it, waving a tentacle in greeting. 

He grinned. “Hello to you, too. Olivia’s running late, she’s doing some paperwork on the last case. Hang on, I’m going to check that hose that got fouled yesterday.” He bypassed the main tank and made his way over to the filtration system at the far end, noting as he did that the equations on the dry-erase board filled more of the white space than the last time he’d checked. It had been busy. 

All the connections looked like they were in order, and Peter turned his attention back to the main tank. The creature raised itself up partway out of the water, obviously pleased to see him, the mottled iridescent colors playing in shimmering waves across its body. He and Olivia had become more adept at deciphering the creature’s moods and intent by the colors and patterns that it displayed, although he still wished for a clearer means of communication. They managed, though.

Peter walked over to reach into the tank and rub that spot between its eyes it loved. His fingers tingled slightly on contact with its skin. The creature undulated against his hand, pulsing with the vibration that meant “content,” but the muted pattern of light blue stripes didn’t darken into the usual bright blue. “Everything okay?”

It hummed, more vibration than sound, and flashed happy iridescence at him. Peter squinted at it in suspicion. “You’re in a ridiculously cheerful mood. Break into the good stuff again?”

The creature dropped back into the tank with a splash, deliberately soaking his shirt. It might not be able to talk, but it communicated “insulted” pretty well. Peter checked the lock on the freezer just in case, but the creature hadn’t broken it to get at the frozen shrimp again...unless it had also learned to repair a broken mechanism. He wasn’t about to put anything past its capabilities, at this point. But the floor around the freezer wasn’t wet.

“Just happy, huh?” Peter said fondly, and went back for another pat. The creature brushed briefly against his hand, then curled up around its favorite rock.

“Don’t need a translation manual for that. I’m gonna do some reading, then if you don’t mind.”

It waved a sleepy tentacle at him, contracted its pupil down to a slit in a mimicry of a wink, and settled in for a nap.

“Dismissed,” Peter said with amusement, and reached for his book. 

***

It was another day or two before he and Olivia got their timing right to visit the basement together. They both came down the stairs, full of anticipation, to find their significant other dozing behind the leafy plants of the aquarium. It didn’t stir until Olivia approached the glass and tapped it gently. 

“Hey in there.”

The creature woke and swam up to greet her, flashing iridescence and a faint pink underneath. It raised a tentacle and brushed it over Olivia’s cheek in affectionate greeting, and did the same to Peter when he leaned over the tank.

“That’s a new color. You feeling all right?”

It chuffed at him, the sound they’d learned to take as amusement or affection. Peter checked all the dials and monitors he’d rigged anyway, just to make sure all the pH and nitrate levels were still balanced. “Everything looks okay. You’d let us know if you were sick?”

The creature flashed a very quick irritated purple before its skin returned to iridescence. Olivia laughed. “That was pretty clear. Guess it told you.”

“Well, fine. Dinner time,” Peter said, and went to fetch food for humans and nonhumans alike.

After dinner he and Olivia settled on the much-stained futon, not bothering with the pretense of turning on the tv. They’d stripped down and relaxed onto the waterproof sheet. “Any time now,” Peter called out, and was answered by a splash as the creature levered itself out of the tank.

It crawled onto the mattress next to them, its eyes wide and alert. Peter reached out a hand to stroke over its head, and it leaned into his fingers but didn’t move to slide its body over them, like it usually did.

The creature was anything but shy about initiating sex with him and Olivia, but the bright blue stripes that Peter had come to associate with its arousal and sexual interest weren’t appearing. It seemed...to just want to be near them, its skin the even cream color of utter relaxation.

Olivia looked at him curiously. “Something wrong?”

“Don’t think so,” Peter said slowly. “Maybe it just wants to watch?”

The creature flashed its mottled pleased pattern at him, like he’d just won a prize. “Okay, then,” Peter said, turning his attention back to Olivia. No difficulty there. 

Olivia smiled, running her own hand fondly over the creature’s head before reaching out to touch him. “Let’s put on a good show.”

***

The next evening, Peter looked into the aquarium to find the creature swimming happily around...and a subtle change that it took him a minute to pinpoint. 

A fourth rock had been moved next to the little grouping that indicated the three of them. Peter stared at it, puzzled. Walter didn’t come down into the basement, and even if he did, Peter didn’t think the creature would have indicated him with that particular symbol. At least, he hoped not. The creature could be obscure sometimes, even alien in its thought processes, but by this time Peter thought he had a pretty good grasp of its basic mind set. That fourth rock was a mystery.

Over the last few days, it’d also been producing noticeably less of the entactogenic drug that it usually secreted, the thicker slime that carried a mild euphoric effect. The creature’s skin hadn’t been dry even out of water, which would almost certainly signal some kind of illness. It just...hadn’t wanted to have sex.

Peter supposed that even a genetically modified sentient cephalopod was entitled to the occasional off mood. It seemed happy, still content with its surroundings and its people, and that had to be enough for him as well.

That fourth rock, though. Peter went back upstairs and rummaged through his toolkits before returning to the basement. It took him awhile to set things up to his liking, and the creature watched him with the large spots that signaled curiosity the entire time.

***

Two nights later, Peter got his answer.

He sped through the ordinary footage his video camera had caught, of the creature spending its days sleeping, swimming, and occasionally fiddling with numbers to the whiteboard. Its biorhythms were a lot like a cat’s, Peter had figured, requiring an inordinate amount of sleep for energy expended. But where had that energy gone?

Peter blinked as something new entered the picture, and he scanned back to the beginning of the anomaly. A shadow passed over the very edge of the picture, and then he saw someone else, a human man, approach the tank. The creature raised itself up, nearly a solid shade of bright blue, and waved its tentacles in eager greeting. 

On the tape the man paused, glancing around. When he finally turned to face the direction of the camera, Peter recognized him.

It was Lincoln Lee.

And-- just like that, like he belonged there, Lincoln stripped out of his clothes and approached the tank, allowing the creature to wrap its tentacles around him. He carried it over to the futon, a faintly dazed smile on his face. The same smile, Peter knew, that he and Olivia wore when the creature’s drug-infused slime started to work its way into their systems.

Lincoln, he realized, must still have the key to the house from when Peter had been on the FBI’s short leash. But Peter and Olivia hadn’t told anyone about the creature, much less about their relationship with it. When Lincoln had learned about the creature, much less learned about its special affection for humans--

Peter swallowed hard as Lincoln gently placed the creature down beside the futon before folding it down and spreading out the sheet. Lincoln was lean, smooth and beautiful when he was naked, just like Peter had imagined. His head was still spinning over the hows and whys as Lincoln stretched out on the futon, thankfully in full view of the camera, and the creature slithered on top of him.

Peter was far more stunned than angry. The creature-- it couldn’t have any human concept of cheating. It probably just saw Lincoln as another human who accepted it. Who wanted it, obviously. Who...loved it?

There was obvious affection, at least, even on the silent recording. Lincoln’s hands stroked over the creature’s body, and its tentacles caressed him in return, moving constantly. Peter blinked in surprise when two tentacles reached out to stretch Lincoln’s hands over his head, but Lincoln just threw his head back, clearly in expectation. The creature kept Lincoln’s hands held while its other tentacles explored, sliding down around Lincoln’s cock, urging his knees apart--

Peter wished he’d put in audio so he could hear Lincoln moan. His mouth was open, his eyes fluttering in apparent pleasure, as the creature fucked him with what looked like at least two tentacles, maybe three. One tentacle had crept up to caress his mouth and Lincoln was licking at it, taking in more of the euphoric compound. Peter knew exactly how it felt: perfect pressure in his ass and coiling around his cock, the slight burn of the slime, the buzz of the chemical sliding over his skin and through his blood heightening every sensation.

He groaned and undid the button of his jeans, sliding his hand down to curl around his cock.

“Peter?”

“Liv--” his voice caught. “Olivia, c’mere, you gotta see this.”

She entered the office and raised an eyebrow to find him sitting there, hand down his pants. “You actually found good internet porn?”

“Better.” Peter scanned back on the recording to where Lincoln came in. “Come watch. Our friend’s had a visitor.”

Olivia watched in silence for a moment, and then drew in a sharp breath. “I thought-- I knew Lincoln was seeing someone, he’d been getting back from lunch looking-- well, that explains it.”

“You didn’t tell me that.” Peter glanced at the timestamp on the recording and yeah, it fit.

“You know Lincoln. Or I guess, I thought we did. He’s so private, I didn’t want to pry.” She watched the video, her breath quickening. “Oh, Peter, look at him. Them.”

“Yeah,” Peter rasped, “I’m *looking.*”

Olivia smiled but didn’t, Peter noticed, take her eyes off the video. The action on screen was just reaching a climax, as it were: Lincoln was writhing on the futon, his whole body one long line of obvious ecstasy. He shuddered, coming with what looked like a shout, and his whole body went limp. The creature finally released his hands, and Lincoln lazily stroked his fingers over its head and mantle.

“Boy has a future in the business, if he wants it,” Peter said, and reluctantly zipped himself up again. Carefully.

Olivia smirked but her eyes were concerned. “This isn’t good for him, Peter. At least we have each other to talk to about it. Lincoln-- if he thinks he’s alone in wanting this--”

“Yeah. But you need to see this.” Peter took her hand and together they went down the basement steps. The creature rose up to greet them, like it usually did.

“Been cheating on us, you naughty thing,” Olivia said, but kept her tone light and cheerful. The creature flashed its greeting pattern, reacting to the sound of her voice rather than her words.

They walked over to the tank. “See the stones?”

Olivia bit her lip. “It thinks Lincoln should join us?”

The creature reared back, colors flickering excitedly over its skin. It darted down to the bottom of the tank and the rock grouping. It picked up the four rocks, holding each in a different tentacle, and came to the surface again. Another two tentacles draped over the side of the tank to hold its body partially out of the water.

It held one rock out to Olivia, one to Peter, and kept the third next to its body. It waved the fourth in the air, as if looking for a presence to assign it to.

“Lincoln,” Peter said again, experimentally, and the creature flourished the fourth rock. It pulled them all back and gathered them together.

“No question there,” Olivia said softly. “I guess we have a lot to talk about.”

“Just need to figure out how, so he doesn’t die of embarrassment.” He paused. “Oh, you meant--”

She rolled her eyes. “You and me, yes. And it.”

“It’s already registered a vote,” Peter said dryly. “We could, uh, watch the video again. Just to make sure we have all the data to make an informed decision.”

Olivia shook her head in mock disgust but didn’t--Peter noted this specifically--object to the idea. And yeah, there was more to it than that, but his relationship with Olivia had already expanded to include the most unusual third party possible.

They’d need to work out a time-sharing agreement, if nothing else.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Elf for letting me borrow her creature, without which this bingo square could never have been filled. (Still a little stunned that it was. So very Not My Kink....!)


End file.
